The Post-media Public Sphere

The public sphere is a concept that has undergone significant changes in recent decades. In its traditional meaning, the public sphere was conceived as the exchange and communicative interaction between social actors that gives rise to public opinion. But the development of media societies gave rise to a public sphere colonized by the mass media, which were both intermediaries who channeled the messages of these actors and privileged actors in the public conversation. The article theoretically traces the evolution from the media public sphere of the second half of the 20 th century to what we call the post -media public sphere, characterized by the fragmentation and multiplicity of messages, actors and audiences, the rise of the Internet and digital social networks, and the loss of the media's capacity for intermediation and influence.